WOLF, Joseph (1820-1899)
Pavo Muticus [Javan Peafowl]Published for the Author, Daniel Giraud Elliot, New York 1872 - A beautiful image from Elliot's Pheasants, the most splendid of his great monographs. The magnificent size and beautiful colouring of the plates after Joseph Wolf's charcoal drawings reflect the importance which Elliot attached to the Phasianidae. Of all the families in the ornithological system, he regarded it as the one most vital to the human race, "containing within it the species that afford food for thousands of mankind, and also those which are the original source of all the domestic poultry met with throughout the civilized world." Cf. Anker 130; Fine Birds Books (1990), p. 95; Nissen IVB 295; Wood p. 331; Zimmer p. 206. Hand-coloured lithograph, finished with gum arabic, after Joseph Wolf by J. Smit, printed by P.W.M. Trap. Very good condition. Reproduction gilt frame. [Attributes: Hard Cover]
[Bookseller: Donald A. Heald Rare Books (ABAA)]